American Indian Film Music Review

A THOUSAND ROADS, NOT TAKEN

By Brent Michael Davids

This is the first in a series of film music reviews intended to address American Indian composers and musicians in the film industry. The intent here is twofold: to discuss film scoring, but also to provide insights into the process of making a good American Indian film score. With this in mind, a potential starting place is to review the musical score of the signature film of the National Museum of the American Indian, A THOUSAND ROADS. While other films might be part Indian or have Indian themes mixed into them, this signature film embodies the ideals of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Therefore, it occurred to me, that in a place that prides itself on commissioning genuine Indian works of art, such as the giant woven curtain designed by Romona Sakiestewa (Hopi) for the Rasmuson Theater which regularly exhibits A THOUSAND ROADS, the NMAI might be the best choice to find a clear example of American Indian film scoring for the subject of this review.

BACKGROUND

Admittedly, looking at American Indian films for their musical scores is not a popular science; just google the phrase American Indian film score or American Indian film music and see how little you turn up. There are a couple reasons for this, the lack of American Indian film composers and the market-driven climate of popularized film songs. First, the demands of composing for film are varied and intense. A film composer must be an expert in most forms of music from classical to rock, able to write the score into music manuscript, able to identify the proper music genre and its proper dramatic placement within a film scene, and able to compose quickly. While there are many highly creative and talented Indians who are musical performers and even composers, they are more often not versed in all forms of music as demanded by a career in film music. In addition, those Indian composers that can write for orchestra are few and far between. For instance, if a singer-songwriter takes on the task of scoring a film, they most likely will hire a trained composer to ghost write for the orchestra, or simply work collaboratively with a trained composer who can write down and orchestrate the music.

Secondly, in todays film scene, the marketplace has a near stranglehold over the type of music used for film scores. The desired ideal for film music has shifted as a result of the heavy lobbying efforts of the record companies and producers. In the former days, before song placement or needle-dropping songs into films, film scores were seen as the comprehensive work of trained composers such as Jerry Goldsmith or Elmer Bernstein. In today's marketplace however, large deals are struck between the recording industry and film producers, the intent of which is to give record companies the chance to have their songs reach a larger film audience with the sale of accompanying music CDs, in exchange for providing additional revenue to film makers in search of more funding.

But this deal-making stifles the film scores being produced, creating a tunnel-vision effect on the newer generation of film directors. Today, the recording industrys lobbying efforts have influenced a new generation of directors who buy into the marketed ideal for film scores, as if few other scoring solutions exist; todays film makers rarely search out expert film composers but immediately search out the music of songsters and bands instead. Many American Indian film makers are not immune from this lobbying effect, almost having been brought up or raised by the industry to first look for bands and songsters, and not trained film composers. Coupled with the genuine scarcity of Indian film composers in the field, the stifling effect for American Indians is compounded. Checking the composer credit on any Indian film, even if the film features an Indian musician, will reveal a non-Indian composer is listed who did most of the actual film scoring. American Indian film scores are not the most studied or talked about topic -- inside or outside of Indian country -- which is why in-depth reviews of this type are needed. Taking a cue from Wilma Mankiller, as Indians we should be framing these issues for ourselves.

CONTEXT

For A THOUSAND ROADS, we must examine the context of the score, as well as the music itself. While working as the Associate Director of the Mall Transition Team for the new NMAI building, James Volker (non-Indian) had the initial idea. I was the originator of the concept of the film, some three and a half years ago, Volker explained, I wanted to develop a film that was identified solely with the Museum, and thats when it became called a signature film (May 18, 2005). Volker was then approached by Scott Garen (non-Indian), Scott was the primary mover in terms of the development of the production. The Smithsonian and myself and Rick West and Elizabeth Duggal were the primary story consultants. Garen was directed to collaborate with Joy Harjo (Muskogee Creek) to write the script and Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho) to direct the film. Including Ulali, these were the only American Indians involved in the film scoring process. Ulali is a trio that sings in many styles including the indigenous-based pre-blues singing style. Ulali singers include: Pura Fe (Tuscarora), Soni Moreno (Mayan/Apache/Yaqui), and Jennifer Kreisberg (Tuscarora).

THE SCORE

The film A Thousand Roads portrays a number of small vignettes in locations including: Alaska, New Mexico, New York City, Peru, and Puget Sound. Each location employs a short story, including: a girls encounter with Alaska villagers, a Navajo boys struggle with gang pressure, and a Mohawk womans stressful inner-city job. The stories are threaded together with an unseen voice who refers to the films characters as if he knows them personally. The vignettes serve to illustrate the many roads of Indigenous peoples in a type of visual suite or pastiche. The film is 42 minutes, and the music is 32 minutes (77%). Only ten minutes is without film music.

FULL REVIEW

The full review includes material from interviews with flutist-composer R. Carlos Nakai, singer-composer Jennifer Kreisberg of Ulali, poet-musician-composer Joy Harjo of Poetic Justice, former Composer-In-Residence of the Toronto Symphony Barbara Croall, and Emeritus Professor James Mason. The full review is available at < http://www.filmcomposer.us/nmai.html > as copyable "text" (4700 words) for re-print in newspapers and journals, and as a print-ready PDF (10 pp) for individuals and educational uses. Permission is given to freely re-print and distribute.

REVIEWER

Brent Michael Davids, Mohican Nation, is a strikingly accomplished film and concert composer who is awarded by ASCAP, NEA, Sundance, Rockefeller, Chanticleer, Kronos Quartet, Miro Quartet, National Symphony and featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, and NAPT. Davids' former film scores include: POWWOW SYMPHONY (BBG) Composer; THE 1920 CLASSIC MYTH: THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (BBG) Composer; THE WORLD OF AMERICAN INDIAN DANCE (NBC-Sports and Four Directions Entertainment); DREAMKEEPER (Hallmark and ABC) Associate Composer and Source Music Producer; THE SILENT ENEMY (BBG) Composer. Upcoming films include: BRIGHT CIRCLE Composer; THE WILL SAMPSON STORY (AIFI) Composer; IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE: PEOPLE OF COLOR RESISTING CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION (Sin Fronteras) Composer; FROM MOCCASINS TO SNEAKERS (Horizon Productions and Entertainment) Composer. Davids holds a Bachelor degree and Master degree in composition from Northern Illinois University and Arizona State University respectively, and apprenticed with film composer Stephen Warbeck (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE).

The Facilities:

All viewing of films, music and theatrical performances have been carried out within my own home theater where I review content using a wide range of home entertainment equipment.